The Plague
by Fishamoe
Summary: Nick and Cassie are on their own and out to defeat Division, but when Cassie has a vision of a woman needing their help the duo is sent on the warpath to Division. Will they survive a new agent on their heels or will their new companion be death incarnate?


Nick walked into the room he was sharing with Cassie, arms full of Chinese food. He looked up from the receipt and found her sitting on the bed, scribbling away in her sketchbook.

"Did you have a vision?" Nick asked as he set the bags down on the nightstand at the foot of their beds. Cassie shook her head and said,

"Not for three days. You should buy me a drink." Nick scoffed and pulled the rice from the back. Like hell he was buying a little girl a drink, no matter the circumstances.

"Well that's a good thing isn't it? No vision, no Division," he said handing her the box of her chicken and rice. Cassie frowned and rolled her baby blue eyes at the older man. "You're not getting a drink, Cas. I'm sorry but I'm not doing it," Nick said shaking his head. He went back to the bags and started getting his own food. He glanced at Cassie in the mirror when he heard a sharp intake of breath. Her hands flew to her forehead as a vision possessed her. Nick hurried to her side, falling to his knees beside her bed as he looked up at her.

"Cas? Cassie what do you see?"

_A woman, laughing with her friends, dark brown hair falling in smoky colored eyes. Division agents breaking into an apartment building and dragging her out kicking and screaming. A logo with a giant X and blue and white coloring._

Cassie grabbed her sketch pad and began scribbling down the logo she saw. Nick watched her anxiously, looking between her and the sketch pad.

"We have to find a girl."

"Kira?"

"No you idiot, Kira's fine- as far as I know anyway," she trailed off absently. Kira had decided against following Nick and herself against Division. Cassie was determined to get her mother out of the facility hiding her and other people with talents. She wanted to break Division at its core and Nick was willing to help her out, for his own reasons that he wouldn't disclose. Cassie thought it was because he saw her as his kid sister and didn't want her to get hurt.

"Then who is it?"

"I don't know her name but she looks like this," Cassie turned her drawing to Nick. Even in the two years they've been on the run, chasing down Division leads and helping others like themselves avoid the suits all together, Cassie's drawings weren't getting much better. He could tell it was a woman by the long hair but the rest of her looked- off. Nick looked at Cassie with doubtful eyes, trying to figure out why the woman was so important. "Don't you see? Division's after her! We have to find her before they do."

"I'm having the strangest sense of Déjà vu," Nick said rubbing the bridge of his nose and squinting. Cassie sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, putting her food aside to pull a laptop onto her lap.

"We have to find her, if we can figure out the logo," she started but Nick took the sketch pad and nodded as he pointed to the X Logo. He knew it from when he lived in Ohio's bustling city Cincinnati.

"It's Xavier University," Nick said looking at Cassie as she began typing. "It's a college in Cincinnati, Ohio."

"How do you know that?"

"I lived there, just off campus, only for two years then I had to go on the run again but I know that logo. Everyone on campus wore it," Nick explained as he nodded and looked at Cassie. "I'm positive this is that logo."

"Well let's go to their library, see if we can't find her in a yearbook," Cassie said as she closed her laptop and slid it in her bag. She put her food aside and climbed off the bed. Nick watched her curiously and then groaned. She wanted to go now.

"I just got us food, we'll leave tomorrow morning okay?" he asked as he stood and walked over to the younger girl. She was shoveling clothes into her bag and shaking her head.

"No, they're going to grab her soon, we have to find her first," she said looking up at him, "Now get your stuff."

"_Mommy? Mommy where are you?" she called into the gardens as she raced towards her crouched form. She smiled over to her and waved but just then a shock crawled through her body and pulsated the air around them. She began to breathe heavily, short and panicked gasps as she looked around the garden. A black haze fell from her hands and drifted over the plants either side of her, the ground underneath her bare feet blackened and died, the grass curling up and yellowing as the life was dragged right from them. The plants shriveled and rotted as the haze fell over them. She began to panic, her hands trembling as she called to her mother, "Mommy? Mommy what's happening?" _

"_What are you doing to my flowers!? What are you doing Ava!?" she screamed angrily as she raced to the little girl then fell to the ground, gasping and choking as her veins turned black as ink and her eyes bled. The little girl stumbled backward, falling to her rear as everything began to drip away around her. The sky began bleeding into darkness and the plants flaked away into nothingness. A cold shiver clung to the girl as her mother stared at her with those bleeding eyes, choking, her voice coming out in a scratchy and raspy voice, "You…monster…"_

_Everything began to crack and her mother's skin was no different. The ink black of her veins breaking out into blisters and cracks until the body suddenly shattered into a million pieces and the little girl screamed loud._

Ava sat up straight in her bed just as her alarm began blaring at her. She breathed in deeply and gulped down air as she put a hand through her hair, a cold sweat glistening on her skin as she sighed heavily. She frowned and turned to her clock to turn it off. She slowly pulled the blankets off her body and swung her legs out of the warmth of her bed to the cold floor. She leaned forward on her knees and pushed her hands over her face tiresomely. She hated that dream; it always gave her chills and meant a bad day ahead. She pushed her hands into her hair, holding it out of her face, as she blinked the sleep from her eyes. She exhaled and let her hair go as she stood up, pushing off the bed. She walked into her kitchen and pulled the door open and peered inside.

One gallon of milk. One stick of butter. One pitcher of orange juice. Some strawberries. That was all that was in her fridge. That was all that was ever in her fridge.

Ava grabbed the juice and straightened, pulling a glass from her cupboard and pouring herself a glass of orange juice. She put the pitcher back and took a swig of the sweetly tart juice as she walked over to the window where her cactus grew. It was the only plant that didn't die when she touched it. She had managed to keep it alive for three months, the longest she's ever had anything. Even pets were at risk if she got upset or worked up over something. She couldn't keep a handle on her emotions let alone the curse she carried.

"Morning Albert," she said to the cactus as she lifted her eyes to look out into the cityscape. Her campus was three streets down and it was visible from her apartment building. She sipped her juice and looked at the campus happily. She was a student there and loved every second of it, it made her feel like she was something. She felt as if she had a place in the world, and by taking Biochemisty and Biology she was hoping to find out what disease plagued her. She had to cure herself, because doctors just locked her up in psych wards. She was on her own. "Well, I guess I should get ready," she sighed into her glass before finishing the juice and turning from the window. She had a busy day of classes and the sooner she got to campus the sooner she could settle in.


End file.
